What should I look at while time aligning guitars?

[alexforreality]

I've always move a chord or chunk if it was really irritatingly
Off time, but my perfectionism is starting to really kill me with exact placement while
Zoomed in, and tuning (that's a whole other story though).

I have no idea which part of the waveform gets aligned to the drum hit, or grid for that
matter. Every hit or chunk has like 30 bumps in the start which
I am clueless which part lines up. What's pick attack, what's the note, which part should be aligned?
Is there a tutorial or explanation, I spent hours of last night trying to be more detailed and things sound strange ya know?

Thanks in advance, I apologize to whoever find s this question annoying I've been trying to search for an answer all day long with no conclusion.

 

[Siguros]

Look at the screen D:

It really depends on what is being moved, if it's a chord look for the peak and put that where you want it. The stuff before is just noise if there isn't a hit before. I am clueless, don't even listen to me.

 

[alexforreality]

Lol yeah sorry didn't look at the screen :-D

Also I forgot to mention my tracks are d.I. and im using cubase 6

 

[egan.]

The guitarist.

 

[alexforreality]

This bands' guitarists are incredibly on time I just want them even tighter! Lol

 

[RichS]

This bands' guitarists are incredibly on time I just want them even tighter! Lol

Personally, I would leave it alone. You need some human element in music, otherwise you might as well do everything in midi.

 

[Heabow]

Just use your ears! Sometimes perfectly aligned stuff on the screen don't sound as good as if you move them using your ears. At least to me....

 

[colonel kurtz]

^+1

i've found that editing guitars is totally different than something like drums, where you have that sharp transient...you pretty much need to listen to what's being played in the context of the song, as the waveforms will have totally different characteristics depending on a number of factors

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

Look at them printer cables.

 

[NSGUITAR]

Use your ears... Don't worry so much about the look of the wave, just make sure you're not crossfading over your transient, obviously.. Most guitarists have a pre transient too (which is like an initial pick attack, but slightly before the transient peaks)... Use that shit to your advantage..